Cooking Mami
by UnmovingGreatLibrary
Summary: Four one-offs: Mami cooks four different meals for four different magical girls and has four first kisses.
1. Sayaka - Valentine's Day chocolates

_Stir stir stir_.

The mixture of cocoa butter and sugar clung to the spoon, but Mami loosened it with a little tap against the side of the bowl, then gently dumped the contents into the still-boiling saucepan of ingredients on the stove top.

Sayaka leaned in and peered at the pan. "Okay, I got that far, but then I wasn't sure. Um. What's 'simmering'?"

"Simmering is..." Mami reached down and adjusted a knob on the stove, making the fire grow a little less intense. The mixture inside the pan had already been reduced to below boiling with the addition of the butter and sugar, although as Mami stirred it all together, it bubbled very softly. "... that. Where it is _almost_ boiling, but not quite hot enough."

"Huh. When I tried it, it all got burnt and stuck to the pan." Sayaka laughed and rubbed the back of her head self-consciously. "It's not like people expect me to be, but I'm not really good at the girly stuff, you know?"

Mami nodded with a smile. "Making homemade chocolate is difficult. You picked a simple recipe, but it still requires careful control of the heat. I have a chocolate thermometer, so we can temper it, too. That way it will look nicer and won't melt out of shape before you can hand them out."

Sayaka chuckled. "You sure know a lot about this stuff, Mami-san. But, um. Thanks, though. I know most girls are fine just buying their chocolates at the store, but this year, I wanna try something a little more..."

"... personal?"

"Yeah, I guess." Sayaka smiled bashfully.

Mami nodded, sending her golden ringlets bouncing softly. "Well, I'm sure that on Valentine's Day, it will mean a lot to everybody to know that you were thinking of them as you made their chocolates."

"I... don't think they'll care. I already heard some of the boys talking about how they hope to get chocolates from Hitomi-chan, and I hear there's even a guy with a crush on Madoka this year." Sayaka shoved her hands in her pockets and leaned against the counter. "They'll thank me for them to my face, then eat them without a second thought."

"Well... here, take this, I can show you how to check the temperature." Mami held out a chocolate thermometer, which Sayaka regarded with a blank stare, but accepted, then turned back toward the stove. "... anybody who ignores your feelings that easily doesn't deserve you, anyway."

"It's more like me who doesn't deserve them." Sayaka dipped the thermometer into the chocolate. "... what am I looking for?"

"You wanted dark, right? Forty-seven degrees. It will take a few seconds to reach the right temperature." Mami waited patiently, as Sayaka stared at the thermometer with careful concern.

Sayaka blushed slightly when she noticed Mami watching her, and pulled the thermometer out of the mixture, then idly licked the hot chocolate off of it. She winced as she almost burnt her tongue and decided to just set the thing aside, instead. "... it's there."

"Good." Mami grabbed the handle of the pan to shift it off of the fire, then picked up a spoon and began to stir it. "Now wash your spit off the thermometer, because we're going to need it again. We need to heat the chocolate back up after it cools."

Sayaka glanced down at the instrument self-consciously, but nodded and carried it over to the sink. "I just always feel... dumb, you know? Madoka's cute and doesn't even know it, and Hitomi-san's good at everything _and_ rich, and even the transfer student's really smart and great in gym. Compared to them... I'm nobody."

"I don't think so. Even though you've had a few setbacks, you're resolved to make this chocolate, because it's special to you. And you want to do it the way that expresses _your_ feelings. That's very thoughtful. You're a better person than you give yourself credit for, Miki-san." Sayaka blushed slightly at that, which only prompted Mami to teasingly add, "And who says you aren't pretty? I won't stand for somebody slandering a fellow magical girl."

Sayaka was very intent on her work all of a sudden, almost frantically drying the thermometer, which she offered over toward Mami without even looking in her direction. "... come on, hurry up before the chocolate gets too cold."

* * *

Getting a perfect tempered chocolate was a bit of a painstaking process, and then it was time to pour it into molds. Appropriately enough, Sayaka had chosen heart-shaped ones, and Mami stood to the side, watching over the girl as she filled them one at a time. It was not an exact art, and while the molds all ended up filled, Sayaka also ended up splattered in chocolate, not to mention tired after a day of cooking, and sprawled in one of Mami's chairs as she watched the sweets cool.

"Uuuuugh. Cooking's hard. I think I'd rather just fight witches all day."

"You finished, though, and that's what matters." Mami settled down into the seat next to Sayaka, and looked over the table full of cooling chocolates. "... that's a lot of hearts, though. Did you plan to give one to everybody in your class?"

"Eh-heh. I didn't actually realize the recipe made that much. I don't even _know_ enough boys to give those all away."

"Well, I think there are plenty of girls who wouldn't mind getting Valentine's Day chocolate from you, either."

Sayaka blushed and glanced aside. "A-anyway. I'll figure something out. I guess these need to cool for a while, so, um, I can just come pick them up tomorrow, right?"

* * *

Two days later, it was finally Valentine's Day. Despite not having any clubs, Mami had stayed a little late, and the building's hallways were mostly quiet as she made her way outside. It was unseasonably cold outside, so she was bundled up, wearing a coat, earmuffs, and mittens, and hurrying to get home and out of the chill.

As such, Mami barely even noticed Sayaka standing by the gate, until the blue-haired girl raised a hand in greeting. "Um. H-hey!"

Mami slowed to a stop and pulled her earmuffs off, while frowning in concern. This was new. "Good afternoon, Miki-san. … is everything okay? Was there a witch attack...?"

"Oh! No, no, nothing like that..." Sayaka laughed, then held up a modest-sized cloth bag in her hand. "It's just, well. I... wanted you to have this." She reached into the bag and pulled out one of the chocolates that remained, then offered it over with a smile.

Mami pulled her mittens off, then reached out to gingerly take the thing. The chocolate had been sealed inside of a simple sandwich baggie, which was held closed by a yellow ribbon around the mouth, with a handwritten name tag: "TO: Mami."

"Eh-heh." Sayaka blushed, and suddenly seemed intent on looking anywhere except for meeting Mami's eyes "I was just thinking, you know, since you saved my butt a few times last year, and since you were such a big help making them and all, and I had too many anyway, and..."

"Thank you, Miki-san."

Sayaka stopped cold when Mami said that, and it took her a moment to recover, waving the comment off. "Well, they probably sucked, since I made them, but you know."

"I helped a little, and I'm sure they're wonderful. … you seem nervous. Is something wrong?"

"… heh." Sayaka tried to give another self-depreciating laugh, but couldn't really muster the enthusiasm. "It's just. Nobody's ever really... called me _pretty_, and... they usually just make fun of me if I like girl things like cooking, and. Um."

Sayaka leaned forward quickly and pressed a kiss to Mami's lips. The older magical girl gave a little 'mmph!' of surprise, but relaxed after a moment... which is all the longer she really had, because Sayaka almost instantly pulled back, blushing profusely. She stared up at Mami, half-dumbfounded, for a second or two, then turned and dashed away.

"A-ah...!" Mami was stunned enough that she barely reacted at first. "Where are you going?"

Sayaka skidded to a halt, and when she turned around, she was grinning. "I've still got more chocolate to get rid of! … but don't worry, yours was the only one with a name tag on it!"

With that, she turned and ran off again, leaving a slightly dazed Mami looking down at the heart in her hand.


	2. Madoka - Cake

"Nnh..." The mixing spoon made one very slow lap around a bowl. "Nnh..." Another one. "Nnh..."

"Kaname-san." Mami looked up from her spot further down the table, where she was chopping the tops off of strawberries—a bandage on Madoka's index finger proved that she'd already tried her hand at it and decided she'd rather stir ingredients. "Would you like me to help you with that?"

"I can do it, but..." Madoka looked down at the bowl of cake batter in front of her with a sigh. "It's just making me really tired. And it's getting everywhere." She averted her eyes sheepishly at this admission, but it wasn't exactly a well-kept secret. There were splatters of cake batter on the table and floor in a one-meter radius around her, and several on her school uniform as well.

"Here." Mami set the knife down and walked over, then stepped up behind the shorter girl. Reaching around her, she grabbed the mixing bowl in one hand, and the spoon in the other, then began to stir its contents again. "See? If you hold the bowl in place like this, you can tilt it around to keep anything from getting out. And then when one hand gets tired of mixing, you can switch hands." She released the two and held the spoon up. "You try."

Madoka reached out to take the spoon, then carefully mirrored Mami's posture, with one hand on the bowl and the other stirring it. Holding it less firmly, though, the bowl rocked side to side, slopping some batter onto the front of Madoka's skirt, and the girl sighed. "Sorry. I'm not very good at it, I guess."

"... well, how about this?" Mami reached around Madoka, both arms wrapping her up, and held the bowl in both hands. The younger girl nodded, and started stirring two-handed. "... that works! Thanks! Sorry to pull you away from your own work..."

Mami shook her head. "It's fine. After all, we're partners now, right?"

"R-right!" Madoka stopped stirring for a moment to look back to Mami. "Do you, um, think they'll like the cake?"

"Well, it's a cake to celebrate you becoming a magical girl, so I think they'd like it even if we poured half a bag of salt in."

Madoka nodded again and focused on her work, although after a few minutes, her stirring slowed down again. Mami leaned forward to look down at her. "Are you getting tired?"

"Oh! No, um." Madoka had been staring into the bowl of batter when Mami asked her question, but now the girl looked up from it. "It's just that... my dad does all of the cooking now, but when I was little, we'd have cream stew as a treat once a month, and my mom would cook it. I always wanted to help out, and she'd stand behind me like that to make sure I didn't hurt myself while cutting things. It just... reminded me." She smiled, and her fingers absently rubbed over the bandage on her hand. "... I'm still kind of bad at the cutting part, I guess."

Mami patted the girl's hand. "Come on. I think it's all mixed. Let's finish it up and put it into the oven."

* * *

"Now then, icing." The cake itself was now cooking, and on the table was a mixing bowl, containing a mixture of butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and just a dash of vanilla extract and salt. Mami held up a handheld mixer as she popped the beaters into it. "Have you ever used one of these before, Kaname-san?"

Madoka peered at the thing curiously, then shook her head. "I've seen dad use them before, but..." She blushed and glanced aside. "When I was little, the noise always scared me too much to hold it. I think I'm okay now, though!"

"Good." Mami lowered it into the bowl, and offered the handle over to Madoka. "You hold this button right here to make it run, and the lever here controls the speed. The butter is already soft, so you can use a medium speed until it's spread around, then switch to low. Do you understand?"

"I think so..." Madoka reached out to take the thing in hand, then pointed out the features. "Speed, and power. Okay." She took a deep breath, then switched the thing on... but, without adjusting the speed beforehand. The mixer roared to life on its fastest setting, whirring angrily, and Madoka gave a squeak of surprise. Both of her hands settled on the handle as she tried to control it. The bowl beneath it started jostling around under the force of the beaters, letting them spray flecks of inchoate icing around the room.

"We need to turn the speed down first, here—"

Madoka tugged the beaters out of the bowl to stop the ongoing disaster, but it didn't quite end like she had hoped. A good third of the icing was clinging to them, and now, it was free to go wherever it wanted. Propelled by the beaters, icing rained across the room, splattering every surface in sight.

… especially Mami, who had been leaning forward to grab the mixer. Her entire upper body was splattered with sugary goo. Madoka wasn't much better off, for that matter. With a pop, Madoka finally released the power button, and then looked around incredulously at the small disaster she'd caused.

"O-oh no! Mami-san, I'm really sorry! I'll help you clean it up a-and...!"

"Accidents happen, Kaname-san," Mami said, as she lifted one hand to poke at her face. The finger came away glazed with icing. "If we're going to be partners, we need to get used to that. … and it's better that you make them now, instead of when we're fighting a witch. Now, sit down and let's clean you off."

* * *

Madoka was seated, and occasionally squirming a little whenever Mami gave her face a particularly rough swipe with the wet cloth she was using to clean it. Mami had gotten _most_ of the icing, but the pink-haired girl still kind of look like she'd been auditioning for a role as a clown. Her hands were folded in her lap, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt anxiously.

"Do... do you really think that my friends will be glad to find out that I'm a magical girl now?"

"Well..." Mami trailed off in concentration for a moment as she swabbed at a section of Madoka's forehead. "I'm sure some of them will be worried about you. I already warned you that the life of a magical girl can be a dangerous one."

"I just want to help people." Madoka practically deflated. "I don't want to make anybody worried, or scared for me..."

"It's up to you if you tell them." Mami swiped the cloth down the side of Madoka's face. "A normal girl can't possibly understand everything it means to be a magical girl... but that doesn't mean they can't still cheer you on in their hearts. But if you want to just have a private party with the two of us, we can do that too. The important thing is that now you have the power to keep your friends safe, right?"

"Right." Madoka perked up a little at that and gave a wan smile. "We can protect them together."

"If you don't want to have a party, though, it's a good thing that you _didn't_ wish for a really big cake. You might feel a little silly about now if you had."

Madoka nodded, then glanced over to the bowl, which had two still-dripping beaters suspended over it. "... what are we going to do with the cake? I don't think there's enough icing left..."

* * *

The answer, it turned out, was impromptu shortcake. Each of them sat down at the table with a slice, rich yellow cake with sliced strawberries scattered on top.

"Mmm! Mami-san's cake is really good."

"_Our_ cake is really good. We made it together, Kaname-san."

Madoka nodded, and while she took a few more bites of her cake, she stared down at it distractedly. "Mami-san... thank you for agreeing to look after me. I know I'm not very good in school, and I mess things up sometimes, and—..." Madoka was cut off, as Mami leaned across the table and popped a strawberry into her mouth.

"You don't need to keep apologizing. I make mistakes too. I was lonely before you showed up, too. If you make a mistake while fighting a witch, we'll fix it together, just like we did today. I'm happy just to have another magical girl to fight alongside, let alone one as cute as you are."

Madoka _had_ been in the process of chewing that strawberry, but she froze, while a nearly incendiary blush rose to her cheeks. "M-mami san thinks that... I'm _cute_?"

Mami nodded and leaned further forward, nearly resting atop the table, to press a gentle kiss to Madoka's lips. "I do. … now, my first instruction as your magical girl senpai is for you to stop worrying, and eat your cake before it gets soggy."

The kiss had left Madoka staring forward in amazement, but those seemed to be the magic words to force her brain back into motion. "A-a-ah, right!" She almost frantically cut off a big bite of cake and popped it into her mouth. Chewing gave her thoughts a little time to catch up to reality, and when she finally swallowed, she was able to speak coherently again. "After this, do you think it will be late enough to hunt witches...?"

Mami smiled. "Do you feel like you're ready to make your debut as a magical girl?"

Madoka stared down at the cake for a second as she considered, but then nodded. "I want to keep everybody safe."

"Then we will. Together."

Madoka's blush returned, but she nodded. "Together."


	3. Kyoko - Chocolate Cake?

"Jeeeeeez, Mami, I'm hungry." Kyoko's belly gave a well-timed rumble, as if to underline her point.

The redhead was seated, with her upper body sprawled out over a table that was otherwise buried under bowls, measuring cups, and spoons. Mami was baking a cake.

Or trying to, at least. She gave one of Kyoko's hands a soft slap as it reached out toward a bag of chocolate chips. This, at least, finally encouraged Kyoko to sit up, if only so she could glare at Mami while she rubbed her hand.

"If you drop by unannounced, you can wait until it's done." Mami measured a small cup of sugar and upended it into the mixing bowl, then turned back to the counter.

"Don't get me wrong, your food's _good_ and everything, but do you have to do the whole production?" Now that Mami had her back turned, Kyoko managed to swipe a little cake batter off of the side of the bowl, then licked it off her finger with a triumphant grin. "My mom used the prepackaged stuff, and it always turned out fine."

Mami expertly cracked an egg against the side of the counter, then dumped it into a bowl. "That's... okay, but." Another egg. "It's nicer when it's made like this, don't you think?" And a third egg. She looked over her shoulder to smile back at the redhead. "You can really feel the thought and love that the one cooking put into it."

Kyoko rolled her eyes at this, then went back to eyeing the table's contents predatorily. "Uh-huh. Maybe you've never lived like I do. Food's food. I mean, sweets are best, but..." She frowned thoughtfully, then reached forward to pick up a bottle. "... what's this?"

Mami, now in the middle of trying to separate three yolks from their whites, didn't even turn around. "Whatever it is, please put it back."

"Mmhm." The contents of the bottle swished lightly as Kyoko tilted it side to side to sound out the English on the label. "Ch... ch... o... co... … is this stuff chocolate?"

"Mmh, well, maybe if you came to school occasionally, you could read it yourself," Mami said teasingly. She dumped the yolks into a bowl of their own, then began measuring out a spoonful of vanilla extract.

Kyoko scowled at the comment, but seemed fascinated by the bottle in her hands. "It _is_ chocolate, isn't it!" There was a small pop as she unplugged the bottle.

It took Mami a moment to realize what that sound meant. "... wait, no!" She dumped the vanilla into her bowl and turned back to grab for the bottle, but Kyoko laughed and hopped out of her chair, putting the table between them. As Mami grabbed for it again, Kyoko quickly tilted it back and started swallowing the contents in generous gulps.

Or, a couple of generous gulps, at least. After the first few, she trailed off, sputtering and gagging, and stared at the label in disbelief. "W-what the heck _is_ this stuff?! Is this some kinda trick?!"

Mami sighed and gently took the bottle from Kyoko, who offered no further resistance. "The second word was 'liqueur.' 'Chocolate liqueur.'" She held up the bottle and frowned at the label. "... I wonder if 40% alcohol is a lot?"

* * *

It was, apparently. The cake was now in the oven and Mami had washed most of her bowls and measuring cups. Her primary concern was now Kyoko, who was sprawled out across the table for new and exciting reasons.

"Kinda dizzy."

"It serves you right."

"No, it serves...!" Kyoko pushed herself up from the table and pointed a finger at Mami accusingly, then forgot what she was saying mid-sentence. She hung there for a moment, just staring blankly, until she could find something else to finish her sentence with. "... th'... chocolate right! Had it comin' anyway. Stuff was _gross_." With a slightly unstable laugh, she settled back down, propping her chin up on her elbows.

"It was for the cake. Not for chugging." Mami rose to standing and dribbled a little water onto a cloth over the sink, then returned and held it out. "Here. You still have a little on your chin."

Kyoko scowled at the cloth, but took it and wiped her chin off, then dropped it on the table without ceremony.

Mami sighed. "You're being more childish than usual tonight, you know."

"Maybe b'cuz..." Kyoko rose up to sitting upright again, so that she could slap the table. "'cuz I _am _a child. Like. Pract'cly, I mean. Ever think about that, Mami?" She wobbled a little, but continued glaring at the blonde with righteous indignation. "Just, like, four years ago, I was _ten_. 'n then the, the freakin'... cat... rabbit thing shows up, and all the _other stuff_ stuff happened, and I'm s'posed to fight witches, and d'you think _that's_ right?!"

"Do you have a point, Sakura-san?" Mami gingerly picked up the soiled cloth and dropped it in the sink.

"... not really, no." Kyoko flopped back down with a sigh. "Still kinda think it's all bullshit, though. Miracles oughta be free, or, or..." She trailed off again. "Or they ain't miracles, y'know?"

Mami sighed again, and stepped around to slide an arm around Kyoko and ease her up from the table. "Come on. Let's go lay on the couch."

"'s probably easy for you, I bet. Everything's easy f'r you." Kyoko allowed herself to be lifted, but didn't contribute much to the process. "For you, bein' a magical girl's like, s'like, s'like that damn cake." She waved her free hand vaguely in the direction of the oven, even as Mami started leading her toward the living room.

"No, it isn't. It's hard for me too. I get scared and lonely too, you know." Mami blushed slightly at the confession. It wasn't something she'd been readily admitting these days, but Kyoko's inhibition was apparently infectious.

"Yes it is. 's just like that cake. A normal girl'd look at the recipe an' go, 'oh, I dunno what I'm supposed to do with, with, with the _eggs_,' or something and screw it up, but you just figure it out an' get it right every time. … yer cakes're delicious. And you're a good magical girl. Y'see what I'm sayin'?"

"I could teach you to bake, you know."

"Like you taught me to be a magical girl?" Kyoko grinned at that statement.

A few seconds passed in silence. "... we... don't always agree, but I don't think you're bad at being a magical girl. In your own way. As much as you love food, you might make a great cook."

"Nah, I'd just mess it up."

"I messed up a few times while learning to cook too, you know," Mami said with a smile, while lowering Kyoko to the couch. "I set off the smoke detector once and nearly got kicked out of my apartment."

"Couldn't figure it out," Kyoko said with a shrug. "I'm not as good as you. _Nobody's_ as good as you are."

Mami's blush returned with a vengeance, but before she could respond, the kitchen timer went off. It was a welcome interruption. "... ah. The cake's ready."

* * *

Or rather, the cake _wasn't_ quite ready yet—it still needed to cool for a bit, and then Mami had to frost it, complete with covering the top in chocolate shavings. All in all, Kyoko had nearly half an hour to stew before Mami returned, carrying a tray. Two slices of still-warm cake, a cup of tea for herself, and a glass of milk for Kyoko.

The two ate in near-silence, with the only conversation an occasional comment from Kyoko, with the corresponding grateful responses from Mami. Finally, though, the cake was gone, and Kyoko was left leaning forward, with her elbows on her knees for support, while Mami sipped the last of her tea.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah. I guess. The cake helped a little."

"Good."

"Back in th' kitchen, I thought I was gonna throw up at first. All over your table, prob'ly."

"That's gross, Sakura-san."

"Uh-huh."

Another few minutes passed in silence. Mami finished her tea and set it aside, while Kyoko flopped down on her side on the couch.

"... still kinda dizzy, though."

More silence. Mami knelt on the couch and turned to face Kyoko, then slid one of her throw pillows under her head. Kyoko didn't resist, but frowned afterward. "What do you think you're doing?"

"A senpai is allowed to help out her kouhai, isn't she?"

Kyoko grumbled a little and rolled over onto her back. "I haven't really been your kouhai for a while, y'know."

"You're right. A kouhai would listen to me when I told her not to drink things."

Kyoko scowled, but let her eyes drift shut as she started relaxing. Whether she'd admit it or not, the pillow _was_ more comfortable than just laying there. "... what was th' deal with that stuff, anyway? How'd the cake come out tasting good with that in it? It was sweet at first, but then it burned."

"Then it sounds like the perfect drink for you." Mami smirked at her little joke, while Kyoko opened one eye again to stare daggers up at her. A little more seriously, she said, "... most of the alcohol evaporates as it cooks."

"Hmph." Still, Kyoko allowed her eye to slide shut again. "If you don't stop makin' fun of me, I can jus' tell everybody your secret, y'know."

"What secret is that?"

"That you used t'burn stuff when you were learnin' to cook." A vicious smile spread on Kyoko's lips and she tilted her head to look up and back at Mami. "Totally ruin your cool senpai act, I bet."

"Mmh. Well, if you do..." Mami bent forward and rested her hands on the couch cushions for support, leaving her face right above Kyoko's, "... I'll just tell them that you said that I'm the best at everything, and ruin _your_ tough girl act." She bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of Kyoko's mouth, and the blush that had already been blossoming on the redhead's face now erupted, threatening to turn her practically monochrome.

"M-mami, why'd you...?"

"Because, Kyoko-_chan_," Mami reached down and poked the other girl's nose, "... I wanted to." With that, she pushed herself up to standing and stretched. "... you should get some rest. If you're still here in the morning, we can discuss what to do about... all of this."

Kyoko nodded slowly in response. In the morning, she was still there.


	4. Homura - Sukiyaki

"Akemi-san, I've _seen_ how you eat, and it isn't acceptable for a girl your age."

"I still don't see why this is necessary."

Mami's counter was currently covered in... well, a little bit of everything. Mushrooms, leeks, bok choy, tofu, beef, eggs, several types of sauce, noodles. At the moment, Mami was chopping up scallions. Unlike most things in her house, her cutting board looked well-worn. "It's _necessary_ because a diet of cup noodles won't last you forever." Mami lifted the cutting board and scraped the green stalks into a bowl, then grabbed another handful. "Do you think you're going to beat Walpurgisnacht if you get scurvy?"

Homura frowned. "I've been eating like that for..." Six years, two months, and fourteen days, subjectively. But she wasn't about to say _that_. "... a very long time."

"Then it's even more of a problem."

"We should be using this time to prepare for Walpurgisnacht."

Mami looked up with a smile. "This is my way of doing that. You'll fight better tomorrow if you have a good meal tonight."

"I..." Homura trailed off as she fished for a defense. This was infuriating. She knew she'd had almost this exact conversation with Mami before, but that was about twenty loops ago. "... I do take a multivitamin. Every day."

"Ahh, they said on the news that those don't really help." Mami smirked. It was obvious that she felt like she had won this argument. "So, Akemi-san, that's why you and I are going to sit down and eat an actual meal, with actual food that doesn't involve the phrase 'stir in the seasoning packet' in its recipe."

Homura glanced over all those veggies that Mami was prepared to chop. "Then let me help prepare it."

"Well, I only have one cutting board." Mami momentarily stopped chopping up onions and looked over the assortment of ingredients that she had laying out. "If you'd like, you could wash the mushrooms and start trimming them. That's not too hard to do without a cutting board, if you're careful."

Soon enough, Homura was standing over the sink, pulling shiitake mushrooms out, chopping off their stems, and rinsing them. She glanced over at Mami as the other girl worked, cutting the onion stalks into regular lengths by rote experience, rather than needing to focus on it. It reminded her of herself, assembling bombs: When she first tried it, it was a harrowing, anxious experience, but now she found it almost calming.

"How do you find time to eat like this, and still do your magical girl duties?"

Mami shook her head and laughed softly as she continued chopping up veggies. "It probably doesn't fit the way you think of me," she said, while still focusing on her work, "But I eat a lot of leftovers."

Homura paused and looked up, with a mushroom head still held under the water. "Then why sukiyaki?"

Mami finally did look away from her work for a moment, and absently brushed her hair back with one hand. "It's a meal made to be eaten with others. I can make something to eat for leftovers another time."

* * *

Mami was a veggie-chopping machine, and with a little help from Homura, it was barely fifteen minutes before the two were sitting on opposite sides of the table in the living room, with a simmering pot between them. Mami prodded at it with her chopsticks occasionally, while Homura sat patiently, waiting for the meat to brown.

"I know it's not really the kind of food I _usually_ feed guests, but..." Mami shook a chopstick to get a little sauce to drip off of it and back into the pot, then settled back down on her cushion. "When I was young, my parents would make it as a special treat on nights that they were both home." She looked down at the chopsticks in her hands, and fiddled with them absently. "I'm sorry, I probably sound incredibly uncool right now, don't I?" she said with a smirk.

No answer. "... is that why you asked me to come here, Mami Tomoe?"

Mami was caught off-guard by this question for a moment, then smiled wryly. "Maybe it is. I haven't had somebody to share food like this with since... well, a long time."

"Your parents are dead. You no longer get along with Sakura Kyoko... you're lonely."

It was delivered in the same stable, calm tone Homura used for everything else, but Mami recoiled in surprise. "How did you...?" _That_, she already knew, was a futile question. Homura had always refused to divulge that information before, and Mami doubted she was going to start tonight. After she got over the initial shock, she laughed and shook her head. "You're probably right." Her eyes were now fixated on her lap, and while she tried passing it off as a self-depreciating joke, her voice grew increasingly bitter. "I asked you here because everybody I know is dead or hates me, and for one night, before we possibly die tomorrow, I wanted it to feel like I had a friend."

Awkward silence, with nothing but the occasional soft bubbling of the pot, until Homura poked at its contents. "The beef looks done. Let's eat."

* * *

The two did eat, in total silence, for quite a bit. In polite deference to each other, they both avoided the choicer bits of beef and tofu at first, until eventually _somebody_ had to take them, and through an unspoken agreement, they took turns grabbing them.

Only when the pot was mostly empty, and Homura had eaten more than she'd had in a single sitting in subjective months—and the last time was at Mami's hands, too—did she speak up. "I can't tell you about why I'm here, or where I come from. I'm sorry. But...I've watched countless magical girls die. Most of them were my friends."

Homura glanced up from her plate, and rested her chopsticks politely across it. "Everybody I have known is dead or... gone. I'm lonely too. Sometimes, I'm so lonely that—..." Homura's voice cracked, and she stopped herself. These things were not for Mami to hear. These things were only for Madoka. "... but I can't be your friend, Tomoe Mami. I already told you that I'll be gone after Walpurgisnacht, whether or not we win."

Mami was sort of overwhelmed for a moment—it was more than Homura had said to her, well, ever. When she did manage to respond, it was only haltingly. "W-well. I... yes. You're right, Akemi-san. You told me you'd... be going away. I should have realized that we were comrades in arms and nothing m—..."

"But," Homura said, and while it was quiet, Mami trailed to an abrupt end. "You were a very good friend to me once. Almost my best friend. It would be foolish for us to get too close now, but... I wish that we could." She leaned forward and kissed Mami on the cheek. Even though the blonde was half-stunned, she could already feel her skin warming up from a deep flush.

Mami looked up at Homura, with a storm of conflicting emotions in her eyes, but there was no way she could even _start_ to find words for what she was feeling. Homura rose to standing and turned away, partly so Mami couldn't see the tears in her eyes. "... I'm sorry."

_That_, she'd only had to do a few times, in all of her iterations. But it was always to Mami. Homura had long ago learned that it was a bad idea to get close to anybody, even Madoka if she stand not to (rarely)... and Mami, she knew from long experience, was lonely enough that this almost always happened if she let it.

Better to make Mami sad now than make herself even more upset if Mami died tomorrow. Better not to leave yet another ruined life behind her. Better to be just comrades in arms, really. That thought strengthened Homura's resolve, and she was back to her practiced neutral tone when she spoke again. "Walpurgisnacht arrives in Mitakihara just after 8 AM tomorrow. … I'll see you at 7:30."

"R-right." Mami had calmed back down a little. "I'll see you then."

"Good. And... thank you for the meal."


End file.
